Another Flavor of Ewwww
by Rob Morris
The foursome left the studio, anxious to make for Anaheim and much Mouse-Housing.
The preview had not gone well.
Rook watched the cousins walk off looking dejected.
"Kevin, did they not enjoy being free-booted?"
Kevin lightly corrected his most recent acquaintance.
"Rebooted, dude. Every couple of years, the animators feel the pressing need to start all over again, when it comes to covering our real-life adventures. Suffice to say, it's never all that pretty."
The young alien shook his head.
"I'll admit a lot of it flew past me. But why are they so upset?"
Kevin tried his best to explain. When both of them were in the same mood at the same time, it was just best to stand back for a while.
"Your character isn't around yet. I'm still a villain in this, not a regular-I think. But well, with our Tennysons - they got creative. Just not so you'd notice."
In the near distance, Gwen had downed half a smoothie before remembering she'd ordered unsweetened iced tea. So she broke the ice.
"Well, they seem to have finally gotten rid of the...subtext."
Ben nodded, his chili fries getting unthinkably cold as they sat there.
"Amazing what a team of family lawyers can accomplish."
She tried again.
"You want my opinion?"
He closed his eyes.
"Right now, I would watch a documentary on identifying different types of dirt with you providing full annotations, if it would drive that animated nightmare out of my mind. So go ahead."
Gwen did just that.
"Okay. Events and realizations made to happen way too rapidly. Character development that forgets the ya know, development part. A large helping of obnoxious, 'just because I can' behavior...way too many potty and passing gas jokes..."
She shook her head.
"...and that was just my character!"
Ben nodded.
"Well, we did ask them to give you more to do in this one."
Gwen gestured at her tea, and Big Chill briefly emerged to freshen it.
"Thanks. Boy, has anyone ever had a worse reboot than us?"
Ben shook his head.
"If so, I'd like to meet them...hey!"
An object sailed around Ben's head, hovering until Gwen isolated it within a mana-bubble. Gwen looked through the bubble.
"It's a note of some kind - WE FEEL YOUR PAIN. But what's it attached to?"
Ben looked closer at the object.
"Some kind of weird red boomerang with-what looks like a stylized Letter 'R' in the middle."